And Then
by Joce
Summary: SPOILERS, Future Arc, Ryohei x Tsuna Ryohei sure didn't feel very "extreme" anymore.


Title: And After.  
By: Jocelyn D. Hoover Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn Pairing: Ryohei x Tsuna Warning: Character Death, Spoilers, Language (A tiny bit of AU because I tinkered with some of the parts), Heavy Angst Rating: PG-13?

08101991

About five years after Tsuna had graduated High School with Gokudera, Yamamoto, Kyoko and Hana with Chrome and Ryohei watching off the sidelines and Hibari secretly watching (although he insisted that he remain head of the Discipline Committee for about the sixth or seventh year in a row) used up the last bit of patience Tsuna had for waiting on his Sun Guardian that he had had in the first place.

It was in the middle of a mission when Tsuna finally had enough and needless to say it surprised the hell out of everyone. The mission was simple - infiltrate enemy headquarters, corner their boss, and order them to back off. If worse came to worse, the majority of the Guardians agreed they'd take care of it. Hibari would be in charge of taking the boss down if things took a bad turn and Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei would get Tsuna out of there before Tsuna took notice of what his Guardians were doing. Chrome and Lambo on the other hand, would take down the rest of the guards while waiting for Hibari.

It was right outside the oppossing boss' office that Tsuna finally had enough. He threw his fists down in a fit, causing not only his Guardians but the oppossing Mafia men to look at him.

"Ryohei! For the love of the almighty! If you want to say something, say it! If you want to kiss me, do it! I can't take you watching me the whole time while fighting in every mission we have together and then sulking afterwards for days! What happened to EXTR-!" Tsuna's outburst was cut off abruptly when Ryohei's mouth covered his and he was pinned to the wall by the silver-haired man. It was a battle of tongues that lasted several minutes as the opposing Mafia began shooting again and the remainder of Tsuna's Guardians that were not busy at the time did a variety of actions that all ended up in kicking the other Mafia's freaking ass.

"Hey! It's great that you two finally did something, but - NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Gokudera screeched at the top of his lungs, knocking someone through the wall.

Yamamoto only laughed, "Maa, let them be, Gokudera, it's not like anyone will get to them," Gokudera grinned darkly and Yamamoto sweatdropped, "Ah... Gokudera..?"

"No, no one will get to Jyuudaime... Hehehe..."

"If all adults are like this, I really hope I never grow up." a fourteen year old Lambo had muttered, looking somewhat mortified.

"Oh shut up-" Gokudera hissed; he looked behind them at the two still making out that were now half-nude and he nailed Ryohei in the head with a dynamite, "We could use some HELP here, lawn-head!"

And that was how they managed to get together (finally).

Not more than half a year later, they married - Mafia Style (and on the honeymoon, Tsuna somehow ended up topping - needless to say, he had quite the satisfying, devilish, uncharacteristic smile on his face for a few months).

About a year after that is when Tsuna was killed - quietly. Ryohei had been chatting with Yamamoto, both of them on the way to Tsuna's office to tell him the good news that both Yamamoto and Gokudera were going to be fine (their last mission had been a doozy). They'd both froze in the doorway, staring at the prone form of Tsuna in his chair; an almost peaceful but also sad smile on his face, as well as several bullet holes in his chest. Yamamoto had instantly rushed towards Tsuna, with a cry of his name, loud enough to alert the rest of the house.

Ryohei... Ryohei could not believe it; he didn't move, he couldn't. And he really couldn't believe his eyes. He even went as far as almost convincing himself that he was dreaming a terrible nightmare until Hibari had knocked him to the ground with his tonfa. Where there was pain, there was reality. And he hated reality right now.

"Stop acting like a child." sometimes, he hated Hibari's bluntness, too. But even Hibari was more grim than usual. Ryohei stared at the new arrival, doing anything he could not see Tsuna's...

"Ryo! It's... Colonello and Marmon... They were...!" Lambo panted; he continued, "And last night, even Reborn was..." he grit his teeth and clenched his fists, a sudden angry look taking over him.

I-Pin was beside him, a hand on his back, comfortingly, "Verde and Innocenti are dead, too. And even Skull is gone..."

Every single word they'd said went in one ear and out the other after Lambo had even begun to mention Colonello's name. This was definitely not a good day. At all.

"There, there, Lambo..."

"...! T... Tsuna!" Lambo cried, breaking out of her grip and dashing to kneel beside Tsuna where Yamamoto had placed him on the floor. I-Pin's eyes grew wide and she quickly took her place beside Lambo.

"Grow up, Sasagawa Ryohei. This may be your last chance, use it wisely." Hibari had said one his way out the door, not even bothering to look over his shoulder.

Hesitantly, Ryohei slowly looked towards Tsuna, Yamamoto and the kids. His eyes landed on Yamamoto; sitting on the floor, leaning against the desk, one arm hanging over his knees, his other over his knees and holding his limp arm and his face pressed into the crook of his arm. Ryohei didn't tear his gaze away, feeling emotions of anger and misery boiling in him - seeing Yamamoto like that meant something bad happened to someone close to him. Seeing Yamamoto like that made Ryohei want to not look at Tsuna; made him not want to believe it had happened.

Slowly, his gaze shifted to the kids, both their faces held in distraught, not their usual strong and bold or relaxed looks. Why had there been such a horrible night?

"Ryohei... Look on the desk..." Yamamoto mumbled; even his voice sent emotions he didn't like having out of control.

He wasn't even sure when he had gotten up, or when he had walked to the desk, or even when he had pick up the letter addressed to them - Tsuna's Guardians - from Tsuna himself.

"Millefiore... But why doesn't Tsuna want us to..."

"He said why in the letter..." Yamamoto laughed dryly, "Gokudera is going to punch me for not protecting him while he was in the hospital..."

Ryohei's eyes went wide as he realized he was staring at Tsuna's body. He couldn't hold it in anymore, he had to...

Yamamoto's eyes left Ryohei's face and stared at Lambo and I-Pin, "Lambo, I-Pin, I need you two to do something very important. Right now. I need you to go find Kyoko and Haru, their lives are in danger."

"No way!" Lambo suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet, he ran out the door followed closely by I-Pin.

Yamamoto sighed shakily and closed his eyes, "It's okay now, Ryohei... Do what you need to do. I won't watch you cry..."

A broken sob escaped Ryohei throat as he held Tsuna, crying onto the top of his head, cradling him in his lap. Yamamoto sat there, only listening and keeping to his word, not opening his eyes but shedding tears of his own into the crook of his arm, clutching his own arms and gritting his teeth.

Hibari stood outside the door, listening, not watching. The grim look on his face only darkening as he listened to both broken songs from both men.

It was within the next several hours that Gokudera had joined the other three Guardians, Lambo still out with I-Pin looking for Kyoko and Haru and Chrome not there because her location had been lost. The four Guardians held a private funeral in the forest near Namimori. A secure, almost random location in the forest. It had lasted awhile, mostly because Gokudera wouldn't stop sobbing and cursing the Millefiore, making himself almost incoherent.

Sure enough, Gokudera punched Yamamoto and asked him what the hell he'd been doing; but not until they were a decent distance from Tsuna's coffin. Hibari had turned around and told them even worse news - both Yamamoto's father, Tsuyoshi, and Ryohei's parents had perished under the Millefiore. Being the Cloud Guardian that he is, he turned and left them, wandering off on his own. Gokudera had front seats to watching both men fall to their knees and start sobbing again.

Within the next few hours, they had separated - Yamamoto to his old home at the Sushi Shop and Dojo; Gokudera went back to Tsuna's coffin and Ryohei had taken the first flight out of Namimori, partly becayse he felt he was unable to deal with the situation at the moment and partly because the Varia had sent for him.

Ryohei sure didn't feel very "extreme" anymore.

So when each of them had come in contact with Tsuna via the Ten-Year Bazooka, they were not sure what to do. Each were happy to see him again, but reminded of the pain that had happened not long ago at all. Ryohei even let an extreme slip... or two... or fifteen. One thing was certain; Tsuna was the "extreme" in his life now, and he didn't really want to change that.

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Here's the main part - I'm not sure of the accuracy of it, but... like... it's 2 am, so it's bound to not be very accurate. Ja ne Don't kill me for making ppl angsty TT-TT I highly doubt any of them would've been happy that Tsuna died... like at all. 


End file.
